Special Sunday!

We had a very full (and fun) Sunday! We began with a great morning at church! Susi came to visit on Saturday afternoon, so she was with us for the worship service today! Then we came home and made a birthday cake for Granbob! (Helen helped by licking the frosting!) Grankaki and Granbob arrived in the afternoon and we had cake and presents to celebrate his birthday! After that, we all headed to FBCLC to watch Beckett as he and the other "Worship Campers" sang the songs that they learned this week! It was a great night! Beckett had quite a cheering section! We are so glad that so many of our family members were there to see Beckett! He had such a great time this week at camp and we all enjoyed watching him lead in worship! I got pictures of almost everyone who was there with us! (I didn't get Jill, Darrin, Josh and Kathy....but I got their kids!:) All 6 cousins were together and that doesn't happen much! How cool is that? Anyway, enjoy the pictures and a couple of video clips of our Sunday celebrations!

Helping Granbob blow out the candle on his cake!

All of Beckett and Helen's cousins came to the worship camp service tonight!

Granbob, Grankaki and Susi all came to hear Beckett sing!

Nana and Papa came to the service too! Then everybody went out to Aubrey's for dinner!
Family Picture!

The theme of Worship Camp was "All For One" which is a song from High School Musical. Beckett had fun learning the motions and dancing to this song! Here is a little clip. He is right in the middle!

I had another video clip of Beckett singing at the beginning of "Everlasting God", but somehow I just deleted it! I'll try to post it again in the next day or so!

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another."

John 1:16

It has been a wonderfully blessed day!

Thanks Susi!

The UPS man just arrived with a package from Aunt Susi (and REI)! Inside we found all kinds of treats to help enjoy the summer! Beckett and Helen each got a new t-shirt (modeled for you in the picture) along with new "BPA free" CamelBac drinking bottles (Susi won't allow her neice and nephew to drink out of supposedly BPA contaminated CamelBacs!) :) AND a Play and Freeze Mega Ball Ice Cream Freezer! We are set! They also have little summer journals from REI to give them fun ideas about things to do to enjoy their summer! We love you Susi! Thanks for all of the fun gifts from your store!

"Mom, what is a solo?"

Beckett has been attending Worship Camp every morning at a church here in LC this week. He is having a lot of fun! He has been learning many things about music, including different instruments, music notes and their rythmic value as well as some praise and worship songs that they will sing at the worship service Sunday night! Oh, and they have great snacks! :) Anyway, when I picked him up yesterday, he got in the car and asked me to tell him what a solo is. I explained it and he said that they were having try-outs for solos on Wednesday, but he didn't want to do something like that. He talked about it a few more times during the afternoon and last evening, but each time he said, "I don't want a solo." Fast forward to Wednesday when I pick him up at camp. The director comes up to me and asks if we are planning to be at the service on Sunday night. When I told her that we were, she said, "Good. Beckett has a solo!" He had decided to try out and he got one! He was so excited! We are proud that he is using his gift and enjoyment of music to praise God during the worship service Sunday night!

Can You Believe It?

Helen and I were hanging out this morning while we were waiting to go pick up Beckett from Worship Camp. She said, "Hey Mom, guess what?" I said, "What, Helen?" And she replied, "I can't believe I'm Helen!" :) I'd love to know where that one came from and what she means, exactly! Nevertheless, I thought it was a cute comment!

A New Place to Lay Our Heads.......

Beckett and Helen have new beds! We have some good friends who gave us these wonderful bunk beds! What an incredible gift! We decided to put them in Beckett's room and put his twin bed in Helen's room. She was still sleeping in the "crib turned toddler bed" (which was fine with me!) She looks too big now that she is sleeping in a twin bed! Anyway, we put the bunk beds together tonight and they wanted to sleep together, so Beckett is sleeping on top and Helen is sleeping on bottom! I've also posted a picture of Helen in her new bed. She napped in it today and will sleep there tomorrow night. I need to purchase one of those side bed rails to make sure she doesn't fall out! The new bed is much higher than she is used to! She is so proud of her big bed and her pretty comforter! (I'm proud of it too, since I got a good deal on it at TJ Maxx!) It will take a while for me to update her room from the ladybug bedding and decorations that she has had for 3 and a half years, but it will get there! Thanks again Jeff, Stephanie and JT for the bunk beds! We love them!

Happy Father's Day!

We just want to say Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there! Beckett wants everyone to know that his dad is awesome because he says "yes" all the time. Beckett also says that his dad is the best dad he has ever seen and he loves his dad! Helen wants everyone to know that her daddy always protects her and he calls her princess. I want everyone to know that Sean is a wonderful father and husband! He puts his family first before anything else and bases his decisons on what is best for our family! We are very blessed to have him lead our family and he is doing a great job! We think every day should be Father's Day!

Father's Day wishes also go out to Granbob (my father) and Papa (Sean's father)! We think they are pretty special, too!

Road Trip to Spring Hill for Emma's Birthday Party!

Our friends the Phillips moved to Spring Hill a few months ago and we have really missed them. We went to church together and they were in our growth group. Helen has especially missed Emma. Emma invited Helen to her 4th birthday party and we decided to take a road trip to attend the celebration! Helen and I left LC on Saturday morning and drove to my mom and dad's house in Brentwood and spent some time with them before we headed down to Spring Hill. We had a great time at the party. Emma had a butterfly theme and they released butterflies at the end of the party! It was a lot of fun and great to see Channing, Meesha, Emma and baby Olivia!

Each of the kids at the party had their own butterfly wings and antennae sticking out of their party hats! Too cute!

Emma is opening her present from Helen while her daddy and Olivia watch! Below you will see pictures of Helen with her wings and antennae party hat, baby Olivia, and pictures of the kids as Meesha released the butterflies! It was a lot of fun!

Hangin' With Ty

We all enjoyed having Ty spend a day and night with us! He is such a great kid and he made us all laugh quite a bit! We had all kinds of fun and can't wait till we see him again soon!

We went to Sonic and Ty really enjoyed his vanilla ice cream!
Helen loved her milkshake!

Ty and Helen woke up first and then went in to wake up Beckett!

We went to Sweetwater to swim with Jill and Lillie on Friday morning. (Connor was on his way home from 4-H Camp.) Ty spent Friday night with them! We had a blast in the pool!

Beckett is ALL about swimming this summer! He loves it!

And here he is in action! This one's for you, Grankaki!

Ty is Here!

Just wanted to post a video to let Kathy and Josh see Ty. This was fifteen minutes after you left! :) We are having a great time with our cousin Ty. He is staying with us while his mom and dad go to see Jimmy Buffett tonight in Atlanta! (Ty is definitely dressed for the concert even though he won't be attending!) Sorry they aren't dancing to a Buffett song....all we could find on the KIDZ Music channel was MC Hammer! :) Enjoy!

Fun in the Sun!

We had a great day swimming and hanging out with friends today! Thanks to the Pridmores for inviting us to swim with them in their neighborhood pool! Just a few pictures from our day.......

Lunch Break!

Another Day at Dollywood!

On Friday we took our good friend Marilyn to Dollywood! We had a great day! It was also a wet day! Not because it rained, but because we rode several "wet" rides. Fortunately, I had Beckett and Helen prepared by dressing them in their swim suits, but Marilyn and I were a bit uncomfortable after the "River Rampage" totally soaked us! Thanks, Marilyn for going with us and for hanging out with Helen when she wasn't tall enough to ride some of the rides!

Helen looking cool in her shades as she rides the tram through the parking lot!
Beckett and Helen after he rode the new River Battle ride and got soaking wet! Helen and I got to shoot the boat with water from land while Beckett and Marilyn rode in the boat and shot water at us! What fun!
Playing in the kid's water area! The water randomly shoots up from the holes in the ground!

Drummin' on a Thursday.....

I thought that 2 and 3 year olds liked to get out their mom's pots and pans and bang around. I remember when Beckett started doing that. The only thing is....he never stopped! If I would let him, he would "drum" on pots and pans every day. Some days it is just too loud! But today, he got out all of my pots and pans and combined them with his toy drum (most used Christmas present ever) and his drum sticks and put on a little "Toby Mac" concert. Beckett decided to sing his own version of "Portable Sounds" by Toby Mac! Enjoy!

Whirlwind Wedding Weekend!

Sean, Julie and I left LC on Friday at noon and traveled to Maryland for Neil and Kathryn's wedding! We arrived at 10PM Friday night and stayed with our new friends, Victor and Pearl! They were such gracious hosts! The wedding was at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon and the ONLY picture I took was when Neil and Kathryn were leaving the dinner reception! I am so sorry that I didn't take any pictures of them in their wedding attire. Kathryn was a beautiful bride and Neil was so handsome! The ceremony, church reception and then dinner reception were so nice! We had a great time visiting with all of Neil's family as well as all of his new "Maryland family"! We got up on Sunday morning and went down to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and walked around for a while. Then we drove a short distance to Fort McHenry which is the 18th century fort where Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner." We left Baltimore around noon and headed home. We made it back to LC around 10PM! Needless to say, we had a great time with "Jujy"..... many laughs and funny quotes! Beckett and Helen stayed with Nana and Papa and they had a great weekend. We were happy to see them when we picked them up early this morning! I'm posting a few pictures from the weekend! Hope everyone enjoyed a nice Memorial Day!

Here are Kathryn and Neil as they left the dinner reception. Everyone was blowing bubbles as they made their way to the limousine!

Sean and I stayed in Pearl and Victor's camper in their backyard! "Yes indeedy" it was quite nice! I wasn't sure what to expect when Neil told us that we could stay with Kathryn's aunt and uncle and sleep in their RV, but it turned out to be very comfortable! We had heat and air, TV, a shower and Pearl had stocked the fridge for us!

It was great!

Here is a picture of the harbor in Baltimore. It was a beautiful day and the area was very nice!

Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light?
The "star spangled banner" inside Fort McHenry!

May 21st is a very special day!

Today was Beckett's last day of school so he is an official Kindergarten graduate! Our umbrella school, Christian Academy of Knoxville, gave us a skills check-list to turn in at the end of the year, so we spent the morning testing the many skills that Beckett must have in order to complete Kindergarten. He passed with flying colors! It is hard to believe that my first post on this blog was on Beckett's first day of school! (See blog archive to the right and click on August to see picture of first day of school!) This year has gone by so quickly! We have had a great year, but he is VERY excited to get a break this summer!

Beckett with his Kindergarten Diploma!

He also received a Certificate of Promotion to First Grade!
Way to go Beckett!

May 21st is also a special day because 14 years ago, Sean and I got married! We went out to dinner this evening and had a great time. We agreed tonight that each year just gets better and better! I am very blessed to have such an amazing and wonderful husband! He is a great support and encourager to me, he makes me laugh every day, he is an awesome father and he is my best friend. Most importantly, he is a strong spiritual leader for our family, and for that, I am very thankful!

Pictures from last Friday and Saturday.......

We had fun this past weekend and I thought I'd share a few pictures. On Friday morning we went to Lillie's school to hear a children's author speak. His name is David Sargent and he writes books about his best buddies....his pet dogs. He brought his four dogs and then he read some of his stories to the kids. Beckett and Helen had fun visiting Lillie and seeing the dogs! It was "dress as your favorite book character" day at Lillie's school, so that is why she is dressed as a princess!

On Saturday, Beckett played his last baseball game of the season. After the game, we met the team at the new Gatti's in Turkey Creek and had a team party. The next few pictures are of Beckett with his trophy, Beckett eating pizza with some of his team mates and the baseball cupcakes I made to share with the team! His trophy is pretty cool. It is a baseball glove and he can put his game ball in it!

After the pizza party we had a few things to pick up at the store. We didn't have anywhere else to be, so we killed a little time playing around! Here are Beckett and Sean playing with some Hulk boxing gloves. It got pretty ugly!

And here is Helen with her lovely Hannah Montana hair!

Pretty Pedicures!

A sweet friend blessed me by giving me a gift certificate to get a pedicure and I went this morning! Sean had to take the day off to install a new hot water heater, so he and Beckett stayed home and worked, while Helen and I went to Lenoir Nails! It was so relaxing and nice! Helen sat on my lap the whole time and was quite interested in everything that was going on, so when we got home, I gave her a pedicure. It was a fun day! Thanks to Sean and Beckett for all of their hard, dirty work while Helen and I got to be pampered!

Helen's First Pedicure!

Prince Caspian

The movie starts today!
I am reading C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian to Beckett and he is very excited about the movie! We were visiting the movie's official web site this afternoon and they had this widget that you could add to your personal blog. I thought it might be fun! (Like I really know what a widget is!) But now I have one on my blog! Ha! You can click all of the links and even watch the trailer on The Harper Hullabaloo! How cool is that?

We are enjoying the story and will see the movie soon!